Damn! Damn! Damn!
First, Kandi and Todd, then Megan and Klay, and now it seems another one of our favorite celebrity couples, Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe, have broken up.
Earlier today, PEOPLE exclusively confirmed that the breakout couple from Love Island USA season 7 has split, with a source telling the outlet that they “decided to part ways” just over a year after leaving the Fiji villa together.
“The distance between them and their busy schedules made it challenging to maintain their connection,” revealed the source, adding, “They still remain close friends. They share a deep love and respect for each other and will always support one another whenever possible.”
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The two started a relationship after a surprise Casa Amor twist that gave them both another chance to find love. But before Olandria, 28, told PEOPLE that at first, she “didn’t allow [herself] to feel that spark,” out of respect for Cierra Ortega, who had previously been coupled up with Nic and abruptly left the hit Peacock series for ‘personal’ reasons after her past racial slurs resurfaced.
But after Cierra left the villa, the Sports Illustrated “Rookie Of The Year,” decided to “make my own selfish decision” and lean into her chemistry with Vansteenberghe.
Affectionately nicknamed, “The Bama Barbie” by her fans, Olandria said her choice to pursue a relationship with the 25-year-old DJ was the “best decision I could have ever made,” and said it “made my whole experience way better.”
The feelings were mutual as Nic called himself Olandria’s “secret admirer from day one.”
After the show wrapped, they made their relationship official to the public but quickly switched gears, becoming more private with their love.
“Mentally, we were both just drained,” Olandria told Glamour in December. “I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe if we share less, that’s better.’ But even then, discourse starts because we don’t share enough. I’m like, I don’t know how to find a happy medium in this life now.”
Nic told the outlet that he felt like they were “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Being in the social media space now, people want to be let in, and the more you let in, the monetary gain is nice. So finding that balance of, ‘Okay, this is our work now, but it’s also our life,’ was kind of hard in the beginning,” he explained. “But now I feel like we’ve got a better grip on it.”
Back in June, Olandria, who announced as the face of MAC Cosmetics’ Painted By Esther collab, told Cosmopolitan that the public’s obsessive interest in their relationship and criticism of their decision to remain private “kind of creeps me out.”
“I’m never that invested in someone’s relationship, and I’m not living for the internet. I don’t always post what people want me to or always do what people want me to do,” she said. “Why does it matter if me and Nic are together? Even when we were at Coachella, people in the comments were like, ‘Oh, I just needed proof that they saw each other this week.’ Why are you so invested in people that don’t know you?”
“We don’t monetize our relationship or put it on display. If you genuinely like spending quality time with somebody, it shouldn’t involve a camera every two seconds,” she added. “We enjoy each other’s presence and do what normal people do: go out, have fun, and get to know each other.”
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